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UPX given bye on environmental assessment

You may be able to see the UP Express train over the next few days. Metrolinx will be conducting “extensive” testing as the train is readied for service in the spring.

Also, the provincial Liberals announced yesterday that they would not require Metrolinx to get environmental assessments for some stages of the electrification construction. This means that electrification may happen faster than it would have otherwise, perhaps starting in 2017. (The funding, however, has not yet been approved.)

On the one hand, this is a positive development. It was treated as such by Laura Albanese our MPP, who told The Star,

“This is great news for our communities,” said MPP Laura Albanese (York-South Weston). “I will continue to advocate on behalf of all residents in Weston and along the Georgetown South Corridor for electrification to begin as soon as possible.”

By 2017, not starting in 2017

On the other hand, this is later than had been promised by Glen Murray, the former Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, and the announcement was criticized by MP Mike Sullivan’s office, who said pointed out that electrification was supposed to have been by 2017, not beginning in 2017.

Sullivan’s office also said Metrolinx had promised that “the [passenger] trains using this corridor would be Tier 4 diesel at service launch in 2015. Now only the UP Express trains are supposed to be; the GO trains will not.”